Story by AFP
Dutch border police said on Nov 28 they arrested a couple on a plane after they fled a quarantine hotel where Covid-positive passengers from South African flights were staying.
The drama came after Dutch authorities said that 61 people who arrived on two flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Friday had tested positive for the coronavirus, 13 of them with the new Omicron variant.
One of the members of the couple had tested positive for Covid-19 and went into isolation, while the other person was negative but in quarantine, according to Public health authority spokeswoman Stefanie van Waardenburg.
She added that both were back in isolation, but not at the same hotel.
They are a Spanish man, 30 and a Portuguese woman, aged 28, police spokesman Stan Verberkt told AFP.
“The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee at Schiphol has arrested a couple this evening who had fled from a quarantine hotel,” Verberkt said.
“The arrests took place in a plane that was about to take off. They were on a plane that was about to depart for Spain at around 6:00 pm,” he added.
Border police are now laying charges with the Dutch public prosecutor’s office against the couple for jeopardising public safety, he said.
The pair had been handed over to the public health authority, Verberkt confirmed.
